The Serpent Stone
by Screaming Faeries
Summary: Hermione was so busy studying for her missed 7th year that she didn't notice the great big world around her. Somehow, after accidentally spiraling back to the 800s, she finds herself in the company of an extremely unusual man, with extremely unusual tales, and her studies are unceremoniously put on hold, for a strange mystery surrounds the Serpent Stone, and Salazar himself.
1. History of Magic

A.N: This is my first ever crossover of any kind, so I would appreciate some feedback. This chapter may feel a bit boring (well it definitely will do as it takes place in Professor Binns' classroom) but it will get more exciting from the next chapter onwards, I promise.

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><p>It was winter of nineteen ninety eight, and Hermione was back at Hogwarts. Truth be told, she was an eighteen year old sitting her seventh year classes, but as she had missed her final year whilst she was chasing Horcruxes with Harry and Ron, she needed to catch up. Other people had the same idea, too – and she found herself sitting beside Parvati Patil, and Dean Thomas was also in the classroom, somewhere.<p>

Only the difference was that Hermione had been given a Time-Turner again. She had _so _many exams, and so little time to complete them in, that there seemed no other option than to spare Hermione a little more time. So Professor McGonagall, the new reinstated headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had dubiously handed over what she swore was the: "last, and final Time-Turner", with the same instructions she had given Hermione in her third year.

She was to use it for the purpose of getting to classes, and for no means otherwise. Luckily for Hermione, the Time-Turner looked no more unusual than a particularly gaudy pendant, so she didn't worry too much about anyone seeing it around her neck. Not many people at school were clear on what a Time-Turner even was.

Though she stuck to Professor McGonagall's wishes of not using the Time-Turner for uses other than to get around the school, she couldn't help but wish she could break the rules. Particularly today, which she was spending the majority of in Professor Binns' dusty classroom, learning History of Magic.

"Kenneth MacAlpin was the first King of Scots, according to muggle legend," Professor Binns was saying in his droning, airy voice. "Of course, back then, the muggles and wizards weren't separated by means of two different 'worlds', but they had to live and thrive together. Unfortunately, that meant that wizards and witches had to keep their magical identity a secret from the muggles, as we do today – to avoid being burned at the stake, or worse."

Hermione was making hastily scribbled notes on a sheaf of parchment, whilst everyone else blinked sleepily along with Professor Binns' boring voice. But Hermione found the mysteries surrounding Kenneth MacAlpin particularly intriguing, and she was excited to learn more.

"So, the wizarding world are almost positive that Kenneth MacAlpin was a pure-blood wizard, and perhaps used his magical talent to be crowned King of Scots. There are tales of magic and deceit written all over the Pictish Stones that were littered around Scotland. Of course, the languages were written in ancient runes and engravings that muggles would never dream to understand, so we allow them to believe their own ridiculous myths," Professor Binns floated up from his armchair and wafted around the front of the room, briefly. "MacAlpin ruled over the Picts – who were a confederation of people who lived in eastern and northern Scotland during the late Iron Age, and the early Medieval periods. It is believed by our world that the majority of the Picts were witches and wizards, henceforth starting the typical living conditions we adopt today, of muggles keeping to their own worlds, and us to ours."

Hermione raised her hand, and Professor Binns looked at her expectantly. "Professor, can you go into more detail about the Pictish Stones?" she asked, her quill poised on the parchment.

"A Pictish Stone is a type of monumental structure. Generally it has been carved or incised with symbols of designs. The muggles believe that the Picts used the stones to spread their religion, as many were discovered with holy markings referring to the icon, Jesus Christ. The stones fall into three classes, one, two and three, with class one stones being the earlier, harder to decipher stones, and two and three fall into easier categories to place, such as the religious ones."

Parvati raised an eyebrow as Hermione accidentally nudged her ink bottle with the speed of her writing. It ricocheted onto the floor, where it shattered immediately, spraying ink all over Parvati's robes. Hermione mouthed an apology, and pointed her wand at the mess, wordlessly clearing it up. Thankfully, Professor Binns seemed not to notice.

"Pict stones have been used to depict symbols for specific names, clans or lineages, or memorials or territorial markers. The one class one Pict stone that the wizarding world pays the most attention to is…can anyone tell me?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air, and Binns nodded at her to answer. "The Aberlemno Stone, which is more commonly known as the 'Serpent Stone'."

"Correct, Miss Granger. The Aberlemno Stone has caused a lot of confusion within our history, and relies a lot on personal belief, at this point. The Stone depicts a man talking to snakes, and if we decipher the runes and markings across its breadth, it clearly discusses the qualities of a man known as Salazar Slytherin."

This earned some delighted, mystical gasps from around the classrooms, but Hermione rolled her eyes. "Professor Binns, this just doesn't make sense."

Professor Binns sank back into his armchair gracefully. "Please, Miss Granger, share with us your opinion."

"The stone is clearly marked in history as being around _before _the rise of Kenneth MacAlpin. That would be around 854AD. Hogwarts wasn't founded until around 990AD. How could the stone be talking about a man known as Salazar Slytherin, if Slytherin wasn't even born yet?"

"Miss Granger, it is more than likely that this stone was created by Salazar Slytherin. Who else, you ask, would create runes and stories regarding the serpent-tongue, and the images of a gigantic snake known to us as the basilisk, and of course, name the stone – the Serpent Stone."

"Professor Binns – it is our generation or the generation before that labelled the Aberlemno Stone the 'Serpent Stone'."

"Please, Miss Granger. The stone was created by Salazar Slytherin – for reasons we do not understand to this day, but we can imagine it is something as dark and dangerous as what he kept lurking in the Chamber of Secrets for centuries."

Hermione was getting flustered. The information was clear – why couldn't he see that? "Professor Binns! How could Slytherin have created the stone – once again, if he wasn't even born yet!"

"It is likely the stone wasn't created until the nine-hundreds, Miss Granger. History can be incorrect in many stages. Now, if you'll turn to page six-hundred and thirty-four of your textbooks, you will see some images of the Aberlemno stone, and highlighted are the specific markings relating to Slytherin…"

Hermione threw herself back, feeling angry. How could Professor Binns be so ridiculous? Why couldn't he see that it was possible that there had been Slytherins _before _the most famous Slytherin? She remembered a class long ago, where Professor Binns stated that there was no recollection of any Slytherin before Salazar, so it was assumed he created his own name.

Out of her anger and irritation, she started fiddling with the Time-Turner around her neck. She was so frustrated! If this subject relied so heavily on general, intelligent opinion rather than cold hard facts – which Professor Binns had none of – then why was her opinion being shoved out of the way and ignored? She hated being made to feel useless, like her thoughts or ideas didn't matter. Her cheeks were flushed with rage, and she didn't realise just what she was doing with the Time-Turner.

She looked down a fraction too late. She was spinning, spiraling through the darkness, the familiar sickly sensation of time-travelling washing over her. Through the darkness, she managed to look down at the golden, glittering time-turner in her hands. The date read 0854AD.


	2. Stranger From Another World

Shortly after Hermione saw the numbers scattered on her Time Turner, light began to filter through her vision. She dropped the dial, letting it dangle on her neck by the thin gold chain, and held her hands up to her eyes in the blinding sunlight.

The sun was startlingly bright. When her eyes finally adjusted, she looked around her surroundings wildly, half expecting to still be standing in Hogwarts. She was stood in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains, on top of a grassy hill. Stretched out around her for as far as she could see was the huge loch, known as the Black Lake.

There was no Hogwarts. Of course there wasn't, and Hermione cursed herself for being so stupid. Hogwarts wasn't founded until the nine-hundreds, and she had travelled back in time to 854AD. There were no founders yet, so there was no Hogwarts.

It was odd, so very odd. Everything looked completely the same, if not for the giant castle that she should have been standing inside.

She was half considering turning the Time-Turner back to 1998, but she was too intrigued with this new world. She had never had a reason to travel this far back before (in fact, she had never travelled further than two hours previously). Even though this was against the rules of time travel – so, so against the rules – she couldn't resist just having a _little _look around. In the space of two minutes she had arrived right in the middle of the Iron Age, she would be ridiculous to just walk away now.

So with that, Hermione found herself wandering down the grassy slope that would usually lead to the exit of the castle. She noticed, with a small smile, that the Forbidden Forest was still stretched out in its usual spot, but it didn't look as dark, huge and menacing as it normally did. Maybe the creatures that lived in its depths hadn't moved in as of yet. But she wasn't interested in visiting the Forbidden Forest – she was wandering down to the shores of the Black Lake.

It took a while to walk there. Hermione wished longingly that she had the talent or patience to learn how to ride a broomstick – as much as she hated heights and flying, travelling by broom would be much easier now. She didn't want to risk apparating in a different time zone, she wasn't sure, but she was positive that different rules would apply. There was nothing to do but walk. She walked and walked and walked, until her heels stung and her face ached with the bitter, wintery wind.

She walked along the lake for what seemed like hours; through the valley between the mountains, until she came to a particularly dense patch of trees.

In the few shadows of the trees, she could see something looming. As she got closer, she noticed that it was a large, boulder-like stone, oddly shaped so that it was slanted. It was huge; it towered above her. When she was right in front of it, she realised what it was. Smoothed and recently engraved with snake-like shapes, runes that would have made no sense to someone at a first glance – not to Hermione however, who was adept at Ancient Runes. She knew straight away what this was, and she could hardly believe her luck. "It's the…" she breathed, reaching out with a flat palm to touch its cold surface.

"…Aberlemno Stone!" a voice suddenly bellowed, making Hermione flinch and retract her hand. She spun around wildly, seizing her wand from her pocket. A man wandered around from the other side of the stone, and Hermione backed up, aiming her wand at his chest, her eyes wide.

She knew instantly that he wasn't from this time zone, and therefore couldn't be a muggle. Muggles of the Iron Age would be wearing rags and most likely have long hair and be bearded, but this person looked nothing like that. He was wearing a navy blue, pinstripe muggle suit, with a long brown overcoat and…high-tops? Hermione almost dropped her wand in shock. Here she was, standing in the middle of the eight-hundreds, and there was some bloke wearing _sneakers_.

His hair was dark brown and untidy, and he had a thin nose and electric eyes. He was gazing up at the stone, rapping his fists against it, and even leaning up against the rock and pressing his ear to it, looking thrilled. He kept making occasional mad comments, like; "you are beautiful!" and "unbelievable!" Not once, did he turn around and acknowledge Hermione, even though she was now pointing her wand directly between his shoulder blades. His ignorance began to irritate her, and she cleared her throat loudly.

He twisted his head around with some strange elegance. There was an odd moment – a long, odd moment – where they stared at each other, and his eyes flicked from Hermione's to the wand. She could see his brain going _tick, tick, tick_, and wondered desperately what he was thinking. She had never attempted Legilimency, but now would have been an appropriate time to test it out.

Suddenly, a smile spread on his face, and he stuck out his hand to her, ignoring her wand. "Hello! Pleased to meet you. I'm the Doctor." Hermione stared at him, unblinking. After a few moments, he dropped his hand, but his smile didn't vanish. "I'm just as confused as you are," he continued, beginning to pace around her; circling her like a tiger. Hermione followed him with her wand, not letting her back be turned on him. "Because I believe that we are in 845AD, and you look like you're from…" he reached forward suddenly and plucked one of her curls and smelt it before she could back away. "…Ah, got it. 1998."

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked shrilly. "Just who on earth are you, and what are you doing here?"

"I think we should have a little talk about that, but why don't you put your wand down first, and we'll have a little chat," the Doctor held up his hands, as if in surrender. "See, I'm unarmed. Nothing I can do to hurt you, but I'd just rather you didn't have that thingy pointing in my face."

Hermione lowered her wand slowly, watching his dark brown eyes as they followed it.

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><p>About ten minutes later, they had travelled in silence to the shore of the Black Lake, and they were sitting beside it, with the Aberlemno stone lurking in the trees behind them. The Doctor had thrown himself on the sandy shore, uncaring about dust or dirt getting onto his suit, and Hermione kneeled primly opposite him, keeping her wand firmly in her fist, but no longer pointing it at him.<p>

"I know what you are," he was saying, while he looked out at the lake. He reached down at one point and scooped up a handful of sand, and Hermione blanched as he stuck his tongue out and tasted a granule. "You're one of those _other _humans, aren't you? The ones with the magic wands and the broomsticks, and the castle and that. Bit stuck in the times though, aren't you? No electric, no tv! Not even an oven, how do you do it?"

Hermione blinked at him. He was really strange – she almost didn't know how to speak to him. It was like he came from another planet entirely. She took a deep breath before speaking. Clearly, this man wasn't a muggle, and he was already mildly aware of her ability. "Yes, I'm a witch."

"Thought so. No, I knew so, actually. So, what's a schoolgirl witch doing in the Iron Age, and how did you get here?" He nodded at the Hogwarts crest on her robes to show how he recognised her as a student.

"I don't think I'm at liberty to discuss that with you, _Doctor_, as I know nothing about you," Hermione replied primly. "But I was recently learning about the Aberlemno Stone, and happened to come across it while I was on my travels."

"Interesting piece of magic, that."

"The Aberlemno Stone isn't a _piece of magic_," Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's an ancient work of art that was created by the Picts. There's a lot of confusion about it in the wizarding world," she added with a sigh, remembering her recent argument with Professor Binns.

"Actually, the Aberlemno Stone _is _a piece of magic," the Doctor replied. "That's why I'm here researching it myself. I was just travelling through this time when my ship was sucked in by its power source, so I felt the need to take a look at it myself."

"What do you mean; your ship?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Just who the hell are you?"

The Doctor reached into his pocket, and removed something in a leather pouch. "I'm a time-travelling Scientist, studying ancient magical rocks and fossils." He held up what was apparently an ID in Hermione's face, but whipped it away before she had the chance to get a proper look at it.

"Can I see that again?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, but handed her the leather pouch. She looked from the ID back to him, and then slung it back in his direction, which he caught neatly. "The paper is blank. Is it some kind of joke?"

He blinked at her, and then started guffawing loudly. "Of course! Psychic paper won't work on a bloody _witch_! I forget you do actually have _some _differences to the normal humans. I suppose you don't even know what a scientist is, probably don't believe in real-life science—"

"Actually, I do know what a scientist is," Hermione responded, her jaw set. This strange man was annoying her greatly, and she was feeling extremely fed up of 854AD. "My parents are muggles, I was muggle-born, and up until being eleven years old I thought that I was completely _normal_ – not that it's any of your business. I'm going to leave now, seeing as you don't have the decency to tell me what you're really doing or who you even are, simply waffling on about rocks and bloody fossils…" Hermione climbed to her feet and started walking away from the Doctor, fishing the Time-Turner from around her neck.

The Doctor jumped up too, and followed her with long strides until he had caught up with her. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when he caught sight of the Time-Turner around Hermione's neck. "What is that _beautiful _thing?"

"Go _away_," Hermione snarled, turning her back on him. It was pointless, as he just swivelled around her.

"Is this how you've been travelling through time?" Hermione nodded, looking peeved. "I've seen countless numbers of your kind, but never one with the method of going through time."

"We don't really make it known, not even within our own kind," Hermione muttered, keeping her fingers clasped protectively around the Time-Turner.

"Unbelievable, I have to time-travel with an entire _ship _and go through the Vortex, but you can just fiddle with the – what is it, a _dial_? And travel whenever you like! Unbelievable," the Doctor looked mystified, and he stuck out his hand once again. "Look, I'm sorry, can we start again?"

Hermione dropped the Time-Turner so that it dangled from her neck, and eyed his outstretched hand dubiously.

"My name is the Doctor. Believe it or not, that is my name. That is what people call me. I'm a Time Lord, I'm not from Earth, and not even from any time you could imagine. My ship _was _sucked in by the power of the Aberlemno Stone, like I told you, and crashed in those trees over there, but it's repairing itself."

Hermione tentatively shook his hand after his outburst. "What do you mean - your _ship_?" She repeated her earlier question.

"My spaceship! It's called the Tardis, it's a time machine."

Strangely enough, Hermione believed him. "Okay. I'm Hermione Granger, I'm a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I have means of time travel because I'm taking too many classes. I travelled back here after learning about the Aberlemno Stone and its connection to Salazar Slytherin – completely accidental, I must add, as what I'm doing now is actually breaking the rules."

"Well, Hermione Granger – do you want to see my Tardis?" The Doctor grinned at her, and she couldn't help it – his smile was infectious, and she was suddenly smiling back. She nodded, and he led her back to the trees. They walked a little way past the Aberlemno Stone, deeper into the depth of the trees until the leaves overhead blocked out the sun almost completely. Finally, they stopped.

Hermione saw the unusual blue box. She recognised that it was disguised as some kind of muggle police telephone box, and she noticed that it had landed a little awkwardly – slanted in the mud. Her reaction might have been a little more excitable about seeing the inside of his space ship, if it wasn't for the slight problem.

In front of the Tardis, there were about ten fully grown men. They had long hair and were bearded, and they were dressed in hastily stitched cow leather, with metal plates on their shoulders. Each one of them was clutching some kind of weapon; a handmade spear or a chiselled steel sword. Their top halves were bare, exposing the native tattoos on their muscly chests and arms.

They were all staring at the Doctor and Hermione, baring their teeth menacingly. All of a sudden, the biggest one in the middle started to scream something in a language Hermione didn't understand.

"Hermione," the Doctor breathed, not taking his eyes off the men.

"Yes," Hermione whispered back, also unable to turn away.

"Run."

"What?"

The men suddenly began to charge at Hermione and the Doctor, one by one.

"RUN!" yelled the Doctor, and he grabbed Hermione's hand, dragging her off into the trees.


	3. Reading the Runes

The earth rattled below them as their feet pounded against the ground. The Doctor had hold of Hermione's hand tightly and he was running, running faster than her, dragging her along. Her breath was hitching in her throat, and a stitch was burning in her side.

Hermione dared to glance behind her. The tribal men were still chasing them; spears and swords in the air; eyes burning, teeth bared menacingly. None of _them_ looked like they needed to stop to catch their breath. She cursed herself inwardly for never taking an interest in sports.

The gang of men didn't seem to be just chasing them. They were spread out, narrowing down the direction in which they could run. Hermione narrowed her eyes – she knew what was going on here. "They're trying to drive us away from the Tardis!" the Doctor shouted over the sound of their tribal screams. "They know we want to be in it, so they're getting us as far away from it as possible!"

Hermione thought wildly, her mind feeling as tangled as her bushy brown hair.

"Can you, I don't know," the Doctor continued to yell. "Can't you cast a spell with your magic wand and get us into the Tardis?!"

Yes, she could. Right now, she could apparate with the Doctor and re-appear in front of the Tardis. He could open it; they could be safe inside. But Hermione was too worried about using apparition in the wrong time. Something could go horribly wrong – she was sure there would be different rules for using complicated magic like apparition in different time zones. Why hadn't Professor McGonagall mentioned anything like this to her?

_Because she was only expecting you to use it within Hogwarts_, Hermione thought. _And you can't apparate within Hogwarts, remember. You've been telling Harry and Ron that for years…_

Hermione screwed her eyes up. They were being chased directly towards the mountains, and there was no way around them. The lake stretched out around them, but swimming its dangerous depths was a death sentence. She had no choice. She clutched the Doctors hand with all her strength and they were suddenly sucked into the air.

The apparition seemed more suffocating than usual. There was a darkness that seemed to last for an age. Just when Hermione was sure that she had made a vital mistake, and they would be hanging in purgatory for the rest of their existence, she saw blue.

They were pressed right up against the police box, about as close as Hermione could get them. The Doctor gave a huge, dramatic breath. "Well, that was an interesting experience."

Hermione looked behind her, where they had just moments ago been running. The tribe members had stopped, apparently confused about their sudden disappearance, but they hadn't turned around yet to see them standing right where they _didn't _want them to be. She looked back at the Doctor, who was now leaning against the Tardis door, looking queasy. There was a bead of sweat running down his temple. After a minute of catching his breath, he pulled out a key attached to a thin chain. "Are you ready to see the Tardis?" he said, with a grin. Hermione smiled and nodded. While she had previously been _extremely _irritated with this lunatic, she couldn't deny she was intrigued by the strange blue box. He unlocked the door, and pushed it open slowly, still grinning widely.

She walked through the door and looked around at the magnificent interior. It was beautiful, full of strange dials and a great, unusual tank in the middle with pipes running through and around it. There was even a TV monitor that looked like a security camera, as it was displaying the outside of the Tardis, and the Doctor – who was stood right in the line of sight.

When the Doctor walked in, looking at her expectantly, she smiled. "It's great, really great."

He looked stupefied. "It's _great_? Aren't you going to comment on the…" he gestured around wildly. "It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?"

Hermione laughed. "Do you think I haven't seen an undetectable extension charm before? I'm actually quite good at those, me and my two friends survived six months out in the wild living out of my handbag. Plus I stayed in a tent during the Quidditch World Cup that had an undetectable extension charm placed upon it," she looked around one more time, then added quietly: "that was a lot bigger than this, though."

"Huh," the Doctor replied, leaning against the now closed door. "Well. I'm never inviting a witch in here again. It's much better when you're all shocked and mystified, and _wow_," he paused. "And it's not an undetectable thingy. It's Time Lord Science, and that's probably what you have too. You just don't realise it."

"It's an undetectable extension charm," muttered Hermione.

He didn't reply, as he had headed over to the centre of the Tardis and was looking at some of the dials. Hermione walked over to the TV monitor slowly, and looked at it. Now that they were inside the Tardis, the image had changed on the display; it was now showing several still images of the Aberlemno Stone that was outside the Tardis, just short of a hundred metres away. There were pictures of it from every angle, plus close up images of the runes and etchings across its body. The Doctor noticed her looking at it, and came over to look too.

"What do you know about the Aberlemno Stone?"

Hermione licked her lips, remembering the argument with Professor Binns. "I only recently started studying it," she replied. "I don't _know _anything. No hard facts, anyway. Most of the information I've learnt about the stone is all a case of opinion or belief."

"So, what are your beliefs?"

"I had an argument with my Professor about this right before I came here," she started. "He didn't want to hear my opinion, I guess. _He _believes that the stone was created by Salazar Slytherin – who was one of the founders of Hogwarts, my school – only that's complete nonsense, because the school wasn't founded until 990AD. And we're in 854AD, and the stone is right out there. Slytherin hasn't even been born yet, so how could he have created the stone!" Hermione shook her head, realising just how much of a ridiculous theory this was, she had no idea how Professor Binns could even _teach _that rubbish. "It's just a monument. Yeah, it's a weird, unusual stone. But the Pict Stones are just art – art, or gravestones, or markers for clans or bloodlines."

"Hermione, the stone isn't just a _monument_," the Doctor replied. "And your teacher could be right about that Slytherin bloke creating the stone just yet."

Hermione glared at him, questioningly. "What do you mean; the Stone isn't just a monument?"

"I am here _because _of that stone. There is something _inside _it: a dark, menacing energy within the depths of that stone. Do you have any idea what the runes say?" He gestured towards the close-up images of the stones breadth.

Hermione looked closely at the runes, years of lessons of the language coming back to mind. "I can't read it very well. It's so old, so much older than anything that I've ever learned. But…" Hermione looked at another image. "Some parts are more modern. I don't understand! It's all written in the same hand, how can some parts be dated from…" she held a finger up to the image. "The earliest date is 300AD," she trailed the finger to another section. "But the latest date is 1050AD. That's not possible. It's not possible for someone to be alive that long."

"What is this part?" The Doctor pressed his thumb to an image that showed a full length shot of the stone. In the middle of all the runes and numerals, was a long, diagonal and jagged line with an arrowhead. "It's a snake, isn't it?"

"The stone speaks of a serpent-tongue and a prophecy. A man gifted in dark magic, and mind-reading. All the clues link to Slytherin – it even _says _Salazar right there!" she jabbed her forefinger at one picture. "I don't understand. I just don't understand. I don't see how this is possible!"

The Doctor nudged her out of the way and fished a pair of square spectacles from his pocket, then placed them on the bridge of his nose and peered through them. "There's no other way around it," he muttered, his eyes scanning all over the monitor. "Whoever made this stone, wrote on it, whatever – they have some method of time travel." He turned his head to Hermione. "How long have the wizards been time travelling?"

"Like I said earlier, time travel isn't something generally shouted about in the wizarding world," Hermione explained. "The only way to do it is with a Time-Turner, and the first one wasn't created until sometime after the first millennium."

"Could I take a quick look at your Time-Turner?" He asked. Hermione nodded, and reached into the front of her robes.

She reached. Her hand grappled with the buttons on her school shirt, feeling wildly for the spindly gold chain.

It wasn't there.

The Time-Turner was gone.


End file.
